IBM PS/1 486sx25 CPU Upgrade Help

edited October 2016 in Hardware
Hello all,

I have been doing a bit of research and have decided that the best thing to do is to get a decent upgrade processor or FPU. However, I am unsure of what I should look at purchasing. The 486sx is a surface-mount quad-flatpack type soldered to the board, however the MBoard does have some sort of upgrade socket next to it. My best guess would be that this is a FPU socket to turn the 486sx into a dx chip of sorts. However, if at all possable, I'd like to get a Pentium OverDrive chip or one of those snap-on upgrade modules that disable the sx chip and use another CPU of your choice (I'll add an image of one later if anybody wants).

Thank you all for the help,
TheWalkingContradiction

PS: I will add some pictures of the MBoard socket later

Comments

  • edited June 2016
    Here is an example of the snap-on upgrade modules. (Found this in an Obsolete Geek video)
    SlFfEB7m.png
  • I don't think they have Pentium overdrive chip for the socket that is used to upgrade soldered-on 486SX chips, you will need a 486 overdrive chip , or an am5x86 , don't think that these are pentium chips, they are just very fast 486 chips that have pentium performance. I would go with am5X86 chip if possible. Pentium overdrive chips might be available but i don't remember if they did ever have the pentium chip for the 486 overdrive socket.
  • I don't think they have Pentium overdrive chip for the socket that is used to upgrade soldered-on 486SX chips, you will need a 486 overdrive chip , or an am5x86 , don't think that these are pentium chips, they are just very fast 486 chips that have pentium performance. I would go with am5X86 chip if possible. Pentium overdrive chips might be available but i don't remember if they did ever have the pentium chip for the 486 overdrive socket.
    True, however i believe ive seen something that allows for the POD chip to be used in this socket...
    (this is not from the machine, however I believe it to be the same socket...I will upload a new picture from inside the PS/1 once I am able to access it)
    Sockel_486.jpg
  • http://www.cpushack.com/UpgradeProcesso ... #evergreen

    I used to have one of those in a 486 something or other.

    At the time, my primary PC was a 486 dx100 that I had clocked at 120mhz, which I thought with my 64mb ram and 1mb video card was pretty rockin'...My how things have changed.
  • Hello all,

    I have been doing a bit of research and have decided that the best thing to do is to get a decent upgrade processor or FPU. However, I am unsure of what I should look at purchasing. The 486sx is a surface-mount quad-flatpack type soldered to the board, however the MBoard does have some sort of upgrade socket next to it. My best guess would be that this is a FPU socket to turn the 486sx into a dx chip of sorts. However, if at all possable, I'd like to get a Pentium OverDrive chip or one of those snap-on upgrade modules that disable the sx chip and use another CPU of your choice (I'll add an image of one later if anybody wants).

    Thank you all for the help,
    TheWalkingContradiction

    PS: I will add some pictures of the MBoard socket later

    There is no such thing as a 487. Intel deceptively marketed their i487 as an optional FPU upgrade, but in reality it is a full-fledged (read: rebadged) 486DX that disabled the SX chip when inserted. In your case you can probably drop in the 63MHz Pentium overdrive since your board's bus speed is 25MHz.

    DO NOT plug in a Cyrix or AMD 5x86 into that socket as these chips run at 3.45v. Intel SX, DX, and DX2 chips run at 5v.

    If you need more help I would suggest visiting the VOGONS forum. They'll help you with any retro hardware questions you might have.
  • Icon wrote:
    Hello all,

    I have been doing a bit of research and have decided that the best thing to do is to get a decent upgrade processor or FPU. However, I am unsure of what I should look at purchasing. The 486sx is a surface-mount quad-flatpack type soldered to the board, however the MBoard does have some sort of upgrade socket next to it. My best guess would be that this is a FPU socket to turn the 486sx into a dx chip of sorts. However, if at all possable, I'd like to get a Pentium OverDrive chip or one of those snap-on upgrade modules that disable the sx chip and use another CPU of your choice (I'll add an image of one later if anybody wants).

    Thank you all for the help,
    TheWalkingContradiction

    PS: I will add some pictures of the MBoard socket later

    There is no such thing as a 487. Intel deceptively marketed their i487 as an optional FPU upgrade, but in reality it is a full-fledged (read: rebadged) 486DX that disabled the SX chip when inserted. In your case you can probably drop in the 63MHz Pentium overdrive since your board's bus speed is 25MHz.

    DO NOT plug in a Cyrix or AMD 5x86 into that socket as these chips run at 3.45v. Intel SX, DX, and DX2 chips run at 5v.

    If you need more help I would suggest visiting the VOGONS forum. They'll help you with any retro hardware questions you might have.

    That's pretty sneaky, I actually didn't know INTeL did that kind of thing. It kind of makes sense though, because it adds extra manufacturing costs to make a separate chip just for upgrades, and I think it was done to save a bit of money.

    Anyway, here's the picture of the socket I promised
    2skeEjZm.jpg
    I also added a heat sync to the chip using some aluminum foil tape, and it works pretty well.
    Jo9TtQom.jpg
  • That chip runs pretty cool, so adding a heatsink is unnecessary. If you're running a DX or DX2 50MHz or above, then I would suggest adding a heatsink, or heatsink and fan.
  • Icon wrote:
    Hello all,

    I have been doing a bit of research and have decided that the best thing to do is to get a decent upgrade processor or FPU. However, I am unsure of what I should look at purchasing. The 486sx is a surface-mount quad-flatpack type soldered to the board, however the MBoard does have some sort of upgrade socket next to it. My best guess would be that this is a FPU socket to turn the 486sx into a dx chip of sorts. However, if at all possable, I'd like to get a Pentium OverDrive chip or one of those snap-on upgrade modules that disable the sx chip and use another CPU of your choice (I'll add an image of one later if anybody wants).

    Thank you all for the help,
    TheWalkingContradiction

    PS: I will add some pictures of the MBoard socket later

    There is no such thing as a 487. Intel deceptively marketed their i487 as an optional FPU upgrade, but in reality it is a full-fledged (read: rebadged) 486DX that disabled the SX chip when inserted. In your case you can probably drop in the 63MHz Pentium overdrive since your board's bus speed is 25MHz.

    DO NOT plug in a Cyrix or AMD 5x86 into that socket as these chips run at 3.45v. Intel SX, DX, and DX2 chips run at 5v.

    If you need more help I would suggest visiting the VOGONS forum. They'll help you with any retro hardware questions you might have.

    That's pretty sneaky, I actually didn't know INTeL did that kind of thing. It kind of makes sense though, because it adds extra manufacturing costs to make a separate chip just for upgrades, and I think it was done to save a bit of money.

    Anyway, here's the picture of the socket I promised
    2skeEjZm.jpg
    I also added a heat sync to the chip using some aluminum foil tape, and it works pretty well.
    Jo9TtQom.jpg

    I can't figure out what the socket is I thought it was socket 3 which was the socket for the 487 upgrade, but it has more pins than that socket unless i am counting the pins wrong. What socket is this? I can't find the socket anywhere, could this be the 486 overdrive socket?
  • That's a LIF / Socket 2. Overdrive sockets were blue-colored Sockets 3 with extra pins (I think), and sometimes had OVERDRIVE READY printed on it.

    oversockcpusidedim.jpg
  • Icon wrote:
    That's a LIF / Socket 2. Overdrive sockets were blue-colored Sockets 3 with extra pins (I think), and sometimes had OVERDRIVE READY printed on it.

    oversockcpusidedim.jpg

    Thats the pentium overdrive socket i believe, i think i figured out the socket, it was confusing me that it wasn't the same color as a standard socket 1 , it is a socket 1 which is for 486 overdrive processors and other 486 based processors, the blue socket is for pentium overdrive which will also take older cpu's, the black one is a overdrive 486 which will take 486 overdrive and older 486 cpu's
  • Icon wrote:
    That's a LIF / Socket 2. Overdrive sockets were blue-colored Sockets 3 with extra pins (I think), and sometimes had OVERDRIVE READY printed on it.

    oversockcpusidedim.jpg

    Thats the pentium overdrive socket i believe, i think i figured out the socket, it was confusing me that it wasn't the same color as a standard socket 1 , it is a socket 1 which is for 486 overdrive processors and other 486 based processors, the blue socket is for pentium overdrive which will also take older cpu's, the black one is a overdrive 486 which will take 486 overdrive and older 486 cpu's

    You're right, that is Socket 1, not 2. The blue socket (2) was for i486 Overdrives and Pentium Overdrives. You should be able to use a regular i486 Overdrive in that socket depending on which variant you have. One had 168pins, and the other had an extra 169th pin.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80486_OverDrive
  • Hello all,

    I actually found a solution to this issue a while back, and I'd like to let you all know what I ended up doing. The socket that's in the picture I posted turned out to be a standard Socket 3, and I have added an intel i486DX33 (clocked at 25MHz) with a passive heatsync held down with some thermal compound.

    Thank you for all your help everybody!

    - TheWalkingContradiction
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